INTRODUCTION ]

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 Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Alm

All over the world, there is an enquicy into the traditions in search of identity
and basic values, specially in the field of art and architecture. In India these traditions
are still alive and they form part of its cultural heritage, continued from undefined past
&enthough neglected and misinterpreted for a long period, the concepts and skills of
traditional architecture are not comple1ely lost. Traditional system as related to
architecture is known in India as 'Vastusastra'. In some obscure and remote pockets
over the Indian subcontinent these traditions are zealously guarded, prnctised and
hereditarily passed over to the next generation. It is thus kept alive, though more as a
ritual rather than with real understanding of its content or meaning. 'lhe aim of this study
is to enquire into development of residential architecture of Malabar Coast (Kerala), to
suits its social and physical environment

1.2 Relevance

In modern fjmes, the architects are in search of more acceptable and agreeable
methods to tackle the ecological and environmental crises that prevail in newly
developed regions. Many experiments are being undertaken in the field of residential
architecture field with an aim in achieving environmental harmony and ecological
balance. However they fail to attain the environmental compatibility of the traditional
houses.

In India especially in rural areas, a large percentage of residential buildings are

constructed without involving archito;ts or engineers trained in the modem system.
Most of these buildings are constructed in the traditional way prevalent in the region by
'Siu/pins' or practitioners and craftsmen trained in the traditional system. Since they
make use of appropriate technology, the buildings produced are cheaper and more
comfortable as compared to the modern buildings. But owing to the lack of knowledge
about new materials and techniques the traditional system has not developed capabilities
to tackle modern architectural situations. On the other hand the architects and engineers
well versed in modern techniques and materials are not familiar with the tr.iditional
practices or with the values attatched to the traditional system by the house builder.
Clearly, efficiency in the building system can he achieved only hy bringing together,
the traditional system and present day practices.

The traditional system is highly evolved and is in use for the last 5,000 years
m� evidenced in the welt deve:loptxi structures in the [ndus Valley. ln its development it
has absorbed new ideas, and deleted obsolete ones and have produced an optimum
solution at any point of time. It continued to provide the technologicaJ base to suit the
changing socio-economic situations. With the introduction of modern architectural
education in India with its emphasis on international style, regional styles based on
traditions, lost importance. The educational system also ignored the complementary role
of traditional skills. It mainly emphasised practices developed in western world
Consequently at present, both modern and traditional systems are p ractised
independently without any interaction. Tbis gap is widening at an alarming speed,
producing architecture alien to the region and the people. In order to produce a
conducive environment where the traditional system and modern technique effectively
complement to meet the social need, an integrated study is essential.

1.3 Scope

A large number of traditional arts, crafts and techniques have been developed
in India from ancient tim<.'S and these techniques are of high quality. Many simple

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comput.'ltional methods and thumb rules are used by tllese craftsmen as part of theirwork
as for example in arriving at the length of rafters in a hipped roof, in proportioning
column orders, in detailing of doors and fixtuJ'l.."S etc. 'There are also many ingenious
construction techniques used in various situations. llH.>. se methods are not described in
the text'), Perhapi the various method') and techniques were introduced to the cratt') men
in their learning process in tlle hereditary system to be remembered and used with
discretion in specific situation. No systematic reconiing of tliese construction details
have been carried out in ;my part of India. This system whicb was intended for the
skillful use in appropriate situations, however, is also going into oblivion.
Documentation of tJle system will go a long way in underst.1nding the system and
presetv ing tlle heritage.

Spre..ld over the vast land of India characterised hy a diversity of physical

featun..'S. climates and socio-economic situations. residential architecture exhibits a wide
range of variation. From the humblt.-st dwelling of tJH.' v illagcr to the 101 ty mansion of
the king, the residential architecture incorporates tlle one and same hasic concept., but
with a differcntscale and details. vViLhin Ihis continuum arc seen a range of house forms
described as Bwsa/a, Dv;sala, Trisala, OWlUssala etc. Thesevariations are perceptible
even to a casual observer hv fheir visual characteristics. In this studv it is intended to
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document specimens of domestic architeeture for a critical :malysis of design feature
such as their core units, configurations, method of development, relationship with the
environment, use of functional spaces etc. Such an analysis, it is believed willIead to
an understanding of the process of evolution of the fonn and it" development adapted
to specific. sodo-cconomic and environmental conditions. Such as tudy has nol bt"ell
c.onducted in any region in India.

lhe work of documenting an architectural project encompassing the details of

craft techniques to the spatial planning of huildings over a vast region is indeed immense.
The scope of the present study is hence limited within the confines of the geographical
region of Malabar coast namely Kerab. Purther the emphilsis in this 8tudy is on popular

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house fom1s of Ekasala. (unita1y house) found in aH parts of Kerala. Almost 75 per cent
of samples selected for the study belong to this group. lhe variations of this house form
in relation to their prime dimensions, materials, plan comp<.,'S ition. extensions, three
dimensional form and aes thetk features constitute the major scope of the study. 'lhe
remaining samples constitute buildings which developed into other distinct types. 'lhe
courtyarded house, M1lukettu which is t.:onsidere<l as the characteristic form of Kerala
Architecture forms one such distinct type� This, together with a few more types are
treated as special residential structures, with respect to the popular house forms of
Fkasala. 'Ihe overall emphasis is on the documentation of house fom1s for critical
architectural evaluation. The recording of their details are primarily aimed to highlight
the crafts skills.

1.4 Choict.> of study area

The whole of India wa,; once covered hy traditional architectural style: however
owing to invasion, migrations and other cultural changes it has undergone tremendous
changes in the northern parts. On the other hand being located at the extreme south of
the subcontinent, geographically isolated from tl1e rest of India, tJ1e tradition is founJ to
be well preserved in Kerala. Here one meets with buildings constructeJ in diffen.•nt
phases of history in tl1eir pure form. None o1 tl1e building.:; s u1veyed in this study :ue
more tllan 250 years old. but craft techniques used in these buildings ac; well as later
works are age old However spatial planning and building systems exhihit a v.ist
variation covering a range of phases. lt was observed that the oldest huilding su1vryed
has a style described in the classic text of Mayamata compiled in AD 400. Most ren.·nt
building covered in the survey simibrly are found to in('mporatc the canons prescribed
in tJ1c regional texts of kfamLsh alayachandrika compiled in tJ1e 16th centmy 1• 'll1e
y

availahili1y of '-ll{'\'imcns of tr,H.lilion;il :1rchitccture, fealurjng specific:i1ions of trca1iscs

spread ovt.'r a IOOO years, m:ike Kt:·rnla a unique bhn1;1lo1y for this study pu1pos,•.
Further tJ1ere are many Shi/pins locally ca1kJ as Asari who p1�1l'lice traditional skills in
planning .:ind constructing builwngs and keep this as a living ;ut 'I11e presence and help
of the�e resouffc persons were availahle for the dct.iikd stlldy <'f the subject. "l11e

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familiarity of th(' amJ1or with the stuJy area and language of the craftsmen for easy
communication also conu·ihuted to the choin• of study area.

1.5 Approach to the Ntudy

The study of any traditional art or science is riddled with problems, owing lo
the difficulty in locating authoritative sources or resource persons. In the field of
architecture, literature lies scattered as pait of Vedic and classic texts, interpreted hy
many in various forms. Different books are hence adopted by different Shi/pins for
reference. The practice of architecture consequently show variations even in a
homogeneous region like Kerala. Majority of .extant traditional buildings are tJ1ose huilt
earlier than 50 years ago. Regarding these buildings the pR"Sent practitioners have only
sketchy knowledge. Hence in order to study residential architecture an approach
integrating the use of all these sources is adapted in this study. Firstly Iitcrary sources
pn.wide tl1e background of tl1e study; critical evaluation of concepts and princi pies given
in the texts helped to understand the process of house design as adopted by the ancients.
Secondly tlte discussions witlt the practitioners gave an insight into local customs and
practices followed in tlie construction which cause local variations. Third source
constituted innumerable buildings standing in different parts of Kerala as living
examples of traditional archik"Cture. While temples of Kerala have been extensively
surveyed, documented and studied, the residentia l buildings have n ot been
systematically documented so far. l11e field survey was thus indicated as the apt
approach for this study.

1.6 OrganisuUon of the work

'lltc documentation reported in this project was carried out by the author during
a period of five years f mm 1 �)88 to 1993. S Ludy an.·a l'.OV cn-<l the eulire Kerala Stale�
After preliminary survey some parameters were identified for tJ1c selection of locatjons
an<l samples representative of t.he ditferent. house type. Care has heen t11ken to
incorporate all major variations perceived in a location. Documentation of selected
samples was done in all possible detail. Scale drawings of houses disb-ibutcd in the study
locatiom; over the entire Kernla state were prepared. Technologicat social and local
variations of the housefomis were studied. The emphasis of tl1e field work was not on
a chronological documentation or one coveting any period of historical development.
On the oll1cr hanJ, tl1e object wai; lo analyse the buildings for tracing the evolutiona1y
stages with a view to derive regional anJ causative factors and infercnc1..-s which have
relevance in modern context.

1.7 Organisation of the report.

111e work is organised in two pa.its. Pru1 I has live chapters. 111e present. one is
intioductoty chapter. Cbaptcr II on 'Methodolo,zy' prc:c-cnlc; the appro..tch Adopted for
this study. Chapter III de.als with the' background' of the study area. Chapter IV is on
'Concepts on Vastusastra'. Chapter V lays down the fundamental 'Design Principles'
as given in the literary sources. This part prnvidl's a setting for tJ1{' furlhl'T i::tudy and
analysis carried out in part 11

Part II includes the details of tl1e field survey and its analysis. The field survey
covered extensive documentation of 144 houses from locations distributed over a length
of 550 kms. 'lhe details of this field survey and the general observations from the
documentation is reported in Chapter VI. ll1e samples from the survey were categorised
into four ident.ifiahle house forms. Detailed.analysis of each of these forms viz. Fkasala,
Timber walled houses, Nalukettu and special structures are covered in Chapters VII to
X res pee lively.

'Ilic s tuJy hJs revealed the existence of two inuepcndeni and hasic house forms
111 Kern la. 'l11is is explained hy two theo, ies viz. I) the lower form of Fl1asalt1 is
developed into higher forms by accretion ol additional Salas and 2) the higher form of
C/wtussa/a is reduced to lower forms by elimination of sun:cssivc Salas. ·111is study
however. has shown ht.."yond doubt that neither of thc�,e lhen1i<� fully expl:1ined th<."
existence of two indqwndent evolved formc, or the ahsenn• of intermediate forms. This
anomaiy is expiained in the last chapter. An attempt is ma<le to suggest a new tl•eory
on traditional residential form of Kerala in this concluJing chapter.

Scope for further work

'Ill<.' sf!.!dy h;1s revealed gaps in fht.'(\Jetical and practir;il aspt"t.·ts of traditional
architecture. Adoption of dimensional system and the mystic aspect"> related witl1 the
romput;1tional process present one such :irc.1. i\s the present study emphasises the
documentation of extant buildings tl1is computational analysis has not been attempted

There is no info1mation regarding many details or mdl1od of proportioning of

different structural elements� like foundation, framing, joinery etc. 11,is information is
preseJVeJ more as a hereditary knowledge hy the craftsmen. As the crnftsmc..•n
increasingly turn towards new systems this crattsk.ill is lost. iln."Vocably. ·11,ere is hence
need for extensive enquiry and technical analysis on the aspect<;, As the prL"Scnt work
is primarily oriented towards architectural study these engineering aspects have not heen
fully cov ercd

An interesting find of this study is the category of buildings of a transitory

nature from residential to temple fom1. While tl1ere is striking similarities between
residential and temple architecture of Kerala, it has not been studied in a perspective of
the evolution of Archit�tural fonn. A� tl1is study is restricted to tl1e residential fonn,
this analyi;is has not been pursued in this dircctjon.